Richard Harrison wrote:
"Is there a good layman`s book on grounding amateur gear?"

The ARRL Handbook for starters, My newest is the 1987 edition. It has
several pages of good suggestions on "The National Electrical Code",
protective devices, and lightning protection. They suggest books and
pamphlets to request for planning your installation.

There is also plenty of information on the ARRL website. The ARRL
Technical Information Service contains good information on a huge range
of technical questions:
http://www.arrl.org/tis/

For an overview on grounding, and how the separate requirements for
mains safety, lightning and RF grounding join together, start with:
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/grounding.html

Searching the whole ARRL site for "grounding" brings up other references
as well.

By the way, almost all homes in the UK are categorically exempt from
specific lightning protection requirements in the Wiring Regulations...
but that also means we are not very lightning-conscious, and UK radio
amateurs tend to be very careless about bonding of mains earths and RF
earths. This is a case where we'd do much better to follow US earthing
principles, if we possibly can.


--
73 from Ian G3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek